


Sharin' Is Carin'

by Josies



Series: No Saints Without Sinners [5]
Category: Saints Row
Genre: Gen, Meet the Family, One Shot, Saints Row 1
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-31
Updated: 2019-05-31
Packaged: 2020-04-05 03:37:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19040365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Josies/pseuds/Josies
Summary: Johnny takes the Playa to have dinner with his family to cheer her up, immediately regretting his decision to be a decent person for once.





	Sharin' Is Carin'

**Author's Note:**

> The Gats are here!!! Thanks to Agents of Mayhem, we know Johnny's South Korean and we even know his Korean name. Since I've already mentioned his family in some of my works, I wanted to write something with them actually in it. They'll be appearing in my other fics too. This is just my headcanon of what his family could be like. Also, Stilwater was originally three times its size if I remember correct, so I've taken the freedom to add some neighborhoods, like Koreatown in this fic.

* * *

**July 2006**

* * *

 

"Seriously—what the fuck's your problem today?" Johnny yells at Doris as he grabs the empty soda can she smashed into his arm and throws it right back at her, sinking down to the childish level of behavior she's so good at dragging him into, while steering the wheel of his car with one hand. She was quiet most of the day, almost like she suddenly decided to go back to being mute, and when she finally got her voice back, she bitched at him like never before, which led them into fighting over the dumbest little things. They're unbearably skilled at driving each other up the wall.

Doris kicks her shoes off her feet and pulls her knees up to her chest, turning her head to stare out of the window. She's quiet for a moment before she speaks. "I miss my mom."

That's it. That's all she says. Johnny's not sure how to respond. He's annoyed by her behavior, but she sounds like a kid, and he's never heard her say much about her parents. For all he knows, her mother could be dead. It's something he doesn't want to be a dick about.

"Where's your mom?" he asks, unable to hide the irritation in his voice. Not that he's trying too hard.

She doesn't answer, just pulls her knees closer to her chest and keeps staring out of the window.

"Doe?"

"I can't talk about it."

He sighs, still frowning over his arm aching. He expected her to say she doesn't _want_ to talk about it, but the way she chose to put it, instead, makes him believe it can't be anything good. How could it be anything good?

He stops at a red light, drumming his fingers on the wheel, thinking. He gives her a subtle glance. She looks sad and he's not used to that. Either she's pissed off, or she has a devious grin lighting up her face, but she never looks sad.

When the light turns green, instead of driving forward like he's supposed to, Johnny makes a sharp U-turn, earning some angry honking from other drivers in the intersection. He doesn't pay attention to them.

"The fuck you doing?" Doris asks him. "Yo, I wanna go home."

"I'm takin' you to dinner."

She frowns, confused. "What?"

Instead of answering her, Johnny pulls out his phone. He flips it open, picks a number from his contacts list, and soon enough starts speaking in—Korean? She used to live next to a very loud Korean family with her brother for a while, so she's fairly sure that's the right language. It peaks her interest, since she's never really thought about his ethnicity, nor have they talked about it, besides some random remarks of her being Hispanic and him being Asian. Through all these months he's just been... Johnny.

"You're Korean?" she asks, trying to sound less interested than what she really is, as he stuffs his phone back into his pocket after hanging up.

"Yeah."

"Oh." She blinks, but turns back to staring out of the window. "I still wanna go home."

He rolls his eyes and reaches to pull a bag of candy out of the glove box and drops it on her lap. "Just eat this and shut up."

She stares at the bag. She's never seen him buy any candy for himself, and she doubts he would just give something of Aisha's to her, but the third option sounds ridiculous; why would he keep candy in his car for _her?_ Unless he keeps it there for the sole purpose of having a way to shut her up. That sounds more like him.

She tears the bag open and pops a green, apple-shaped hard candy into her mouth, known to never say no to sweets. It's sour, meaning she instantly loves it, and she's not sure if she should credit him or hate him for remembering what type of candy is her favorite, but since she doesn't know why the bag was in his car in the first place, she doesn't do either. Whatever Johnny originally intended the candy for, it works by keeping her occupied all the way to Chinatown.

"Are we going to, like, an actual restaurant?" she asks with her mouth full. "Or are you just drivin' to Freckle Bitch's? 'Cause I want somethin' spicy."

"Would you at least swallow before you speak?"

"That's probably the most polite way you've ever told anyone to swallow," she replies, in the way that always makes him call her a brat, finally sounding more like her usual self.

Johnny just chuckles low. He takes them to the West end of Chinatown, where Koreatown starts. It's a smaller area, packed full of old apartment buildings, shops, bars and restaurants, and a sizeable market square at the center. As much as she loves Saint's Row, her childhood neighborhood, she's always loved the ethnic parts of the city, too. They're colorful and lively, buzzing with people and culture and foreign languages, and getting lost in the endless rows of small bars and clubs is a perfect way to spend a weekend.

Johnny parks in front of a restaurant that's empty and mostly dark. Doris squints her eyes to see the sign on the glass door. He grabs his things and gets out of the car. Then he leans down to look at her through the open door.

"Come on," he says, but she doesn't move.

"The sign says it's closed."

"Not for me it ain't."

"So, going out to dinner with you means your date has to steal their own food?" She folds her arms over her chest. "No wonder Aisha's always bitchin' at you."

"Get your ass outta the fuckin' car," Johnny grunts out the words. He has very little patience left after fighting with her half the day.

She purses her lips. "Fine, but I'm takin' the candy."

"Leave it."

"I ain't gonna break and enter to steal food with your cheap ass! I'm takin' the candy!"

"Leave it!"

"Fine!" She slams the plastic bag on the dashboard, shoves her feet into her shoes and storms out of the car, slamming the door shut.

"You're gonna have to behave yourself when we go inside," he says as he locks the doors and heads for the restaurant's front door. "You're about to meet my family."

"Your _what?_ " she asks, freezing for a second, dumbfounded. "Do I look like I'm dressed for meetin' someone's family, Gat?"

He turns at the door to glance at her short dress, stay-ups and high heels. It was a hot day, so her outfit is justified, but he won't validate her. "I'm pretty sure you don't owe clothes that'd cover you up more than that."

"Bitch," she huffs and desperately pulls the hem of her dress lower to cover at least half of her thighs as she steps inside after him. Her eyes start scanning the room immediately. The rustic, red brick walls and the wooden elements give the restaurant a warm and earthy atmosphere. The chairs are upside down on the tables, except for one large table in the middle, and there are only lights on in the kitchen and the counter area at the back.

"Hi, Mom," Johnny greets a middle-aged woman behind the register.

She looks up from the money she's counting. Her cheekbones are sharp and wide like Johnny's, and there are a few grey streaks on her black hair. She looks tired after a full day of work, but she smiles. "Hello, Ji-hoon."

"I got Doe with me."

Doris takes a step forward to stand next to Johnny. "Hey, it's nice to meet you..."

"Hae-mi," his mother introduces herself with her smile widening a little more. Then she continues to count down the register. "It's good to meet you finally. Only took him several weeks to bring you here for dinner," she says as she looks up from the money again to give Johnny a scolding glance. There's a small, but noticeable accent in her voice.

"Yeah, sorry I barge in here lookin' like this," Doris says, throwing a glare Johnny's way. "He didn't tell me where we were going."

"Don't worry about it, sweetheart," Hae-mi reassures her. She sounds genuine. "You look really pretty."

"Um, thanks," Doris responds, trying to hide how pleasantly surprised she is. After the borderline humiliating shitshow that her meeting Dex's family for the first time turned into, she felt somewhat agitated about walking into the restaurant she now believes is owned by the Gats. She hasn't really done this since she was in high school. She hasn't had the kind of people in her life who would introduce her to their family.

"Johnny can take you upstairs to meet everyone," Hae-mi says. "I'm almost done here."

He nods. "Yup, let's go."

"And come back down to help me set the table," she adds.

"Yeah, yeah."

"You told your mom about me?" Doris asks in a teasing voice after they have passed through the back of the restaurant and into a hallway with a staircase.

"Shut up," Johnny replies as he heads up the stairs.

"So, your name's actually Ji-hoon?" she asks as she follows him, naturally refusing to obey.

"My Korean name, yeah."

"How's it spelled?"

"There's a hyphen between Ji and Hoon," he explains.

She snorts. "You know I'm gonna start callin' you J-Ho, right? Like J-Lo? 'Cause you both the biggest fuckin' divas on Earth?"

He stops in front of a door on the second floor, turning to her. "You know I'm gonna kill you, right?"

"You could always try," she says low as she leans her back to the wall next to the door, looking up at him with her head tilted and a small, playful grin on her lips.

"I told you to fuckin' behave."

"Just open the door, you whiny bitch," she replies, counting on her own speculation on the fact that he won't do a damn thing to her in his family's house.

He sighs as he unlocks the door and leads her into what seems to be the only apartment on the second floor. The decor is neat and cozy, and the walls are full of frames with decades old pictures of smiling people, giving Doris the impression that family holds high value for the Gats. She can relate to that sentiment.

They walk into a spacious living room with tall windows on one wall and a big balcony behind them; it's filled with plants and flowers, and lanterns illuminating the darkening Summer night and the people chatting around a round table.

"That's Jessica and Grace," Johnny says as he points to two of his sisters: a blonde woman in her late twenties and a teenage girl with thick-rimmed glasses, "Jennifer and her family," he continues, pointing to a woman holding a baby, and a man sitting next to her. Johnny's too hungry to bother taking Doris to the balcony. He just wants to have dinner as fast as possible, and knowing his sisters, they would delay it by rambling endlessly. He walks through a small corridor into the kitchen next, where an old woman is washing dishes. "And this is Grandma."

He greets the woman in Korean, a little louder than usual, to make sure she notices him over the radio. She turns and a smile lights up her face. She's slow in her movements, but she hurries over to Johnny while drying off her hands on her apron, pulling him down into a hug. She's adorably excited to see him. They exchange a few words in Korean and the only thing Doris understands is her name. Then the woman hurries to her, taking her hands into hers and speaking more Korean. What she says seems unusually long for a simple greeting.

"Hi," Doris says, smiling, quickly glancing at Johnny. "What'd she say?"

"Nothin'," he says with a shrug.

She glares at him. "Really? You told me to behave, but you're bein' rude yourself?"

He closes his eyes for a second and sighs inaudibly. It's easy to do and say whatever he wants when people tend to be afraid of calling him out on it. He keeps forgetting she's not of those people. "She just thought that I ended things with Eesh and that you're my new girl."

"A fair assumption," she replies, casually as fuck, topped off with a smug grin.

Johnny raises his eyebrows, but his grandmother grabs Doris by the wrist and leads her out of the kitchen, before he gets a chance to even think of how to respond. He shrugs off the surprise and grabs a beer from the fridge. At least Doris is not sulking anymore.

After having a short chat with his mother while helping her set the table in the restaurant downstairs, Johnny returns upstairs to find Doris. She's sitting on a couch in the living room with his grandmother, surrounded by old photo albums, flipping through the one spread open on her lap.

"Johnny, it's you! You're so tiny!" she squeals when she notices him, pointing at pictures of him as a baby. "I can't believe you were a baby once for real, this is way too much to handle." She looks dangerously excited and he makes a mental note of checking she doesn't have any of the pictures stashed in whatever little she's wearing when they leave. Not that she'll let him, but still, he has a reputation to maintain.

"Grandma, don't show her that shit," Johnny says with a frown, but she doesn't listen to him, flipping through the pages for more embarrassing pictures, instead.

"Oh no—oh God!" Doris gasps as she slaps her hand over her heart. "Look at your hair! My brother had his hair cut like that, too." She takes one of the pictures out to show it to him. "You're so frickin' cute. And so fat."

Johnny pouts into a cup he's holding. "Thanks."

His grandmother points at the picture in Doris' hand, drawing a circle around the boy's torso as she speaks in Korean.

Doris nods like she understands, but then she turns to Johnny again. "What'd she say?"

"I ain't gonna tell you," he says, but his grandmother gives him a stern look, making him sigh deep. "Fine. She said I used to steal candy from stores when I was told I couldn't have any."

"Is it true?"

"Maybe."

"You little, fat thief," she says with a grin and Johnny sighs into his cup again. She spots the cup, now. "What's that?"

"Chamomile," he replies, but when he doesn't hear any reaction from her, he glances her way, already knowing he will regret doing so.

She's just staring right back at him with her lips sucked in, afraid to even blink, because if she does, chances are she will die from laughing. It's the funniest fucking thing she's heard in weeks, _Johnny Gat drinking chamomile tea_ , and there are so many snide jokes racing through her mind she's unable to pick one to throw at him.

He knows exactly what she's thinking and he takes his chance to strike first when his grandmother gets up to look for another album. "I'm about to smash this cup into your face," he grunts quietly through his teeth. It's bad enough that his mother took away his beer the second she spotted him drinking it and replaced it with a cup of tea, like he isn't a twenty-six-year-old man fully capable of making his own decisions. He doesn't need Doris torturing him about it.

"Suppose that's why you need it," she says, snorting and then clearing her throat. "Calmin' chamomile."

"You're leavin' this house in three separate plastic bags," he warns her.

She giggles, showing no concern over his threat. "You're so adorable right now."

"Oh, my God!" Jennifer gasps loudly from the balcony door as she notices Doris on the couch, pretending she weren't the one Johnny called upfront. "Is she really here, or is this a dream?"

"I'd put my money on some kinda group hallucination," Jessica says, walking in right behind her sister. "Hey, I'm Jess."

"I'm—"

"Doe, yeah, we know," Jennifer says as she sits down on the couch next to Doris. "I'm Jenn. You're kinda like a, um, urban legend around here."

Doris laughs, amused. "That's actually not the first time I hear that."

"Just get your asses downstairs," Johnny says to his sisters, getting grumpy over how hungry he is, then changing his tone when Jennifer's husband walks in. "Yo, Dave, whassup?"

Jennifer rolls her eyes at her brother, but instead of getting into an argument with him, she proceeds to help their grandmother out of the apartment and down the stairs. Doris follows Johnny and his brother-in-law, listening in on their conversation and that way finding out that David is a professional athlete of some sort, and that his and Jennifer's older son is at a friend's pajama party. David is lean and muscular, and his dark brown hair is nicely styled. He laughs a lot. As far as Doris can tell, he's Korean, too. She thinks she might have seen his face before in a newspaper, or somewhere.

The large table in the middle of the restaurant is now filled with food. There's a grill in the middle of it with thinly sliced, raw meat and vegetables gathered on plates around it, white rice and fried rice, a whole roasted fish, a big pot of stew, noodle soup, chicken skewers, a large plate of seaweed rice rolls, and several small bowls of side dishes and sauces. Despite of having had some Korean food before, Doris has no idea what half of the food on the table is, but it all smells heavenly and she's starving.

"Holy shit," she says quietly next to Johnny.

"What?"

"Do you always eat like this?"

"When we're all here, yeah," he says with a nod. "Most of the dishes are just leftovers from the restaurant, though. No point in wastin' any food when ya got a big family."

"Huh."

He glances at her. She seems so awestruck by all the food in front of her, it's amusing. "When was the last time you had a proper home-cooked meal?"

"You mean somethin' like this?" She takes a second to think, chewing on her bottom lip. Then she shrugs. "I don't know, like, three years ago, maybe."

"Three years?"

"Does barbecue count?"

He ponders his answer for a short moment, because her brother throws a barbecue party every Sunday on the roof of the building the Morenos live in, and even though there's a lot of food, there's still always more alcohol involved. "No."

"What about Tee'N'Ay's Christmas buffet?"

"I said _home-cooked_."

"But it's like a second home to me."

"Still a definite no."

"Then, yeah, three years."

"You live a sad life," he says and shakes his head as he puts his hand on her shoulder, leading her to the table. "Come on, I'll show you the basics."

Johnny is barely done explaining everything to Doris about how their dinner with multiple dishes works when his sisters shoo him off to sit at the other end of the table with their mother and grandmother. Jennifer and Jessica sit Doris down, serving her soju and filling her plate up with food to try out faster than she can eat, all the while asking her every question they can come up with. Doris has to hold back tears, because everything they put on her plate tastes so good, she can't believe they eat like that all the time.

"Do you have siblings, or are you the only child?" Jennifer asks. She has her son next to her in a highchair and she's feeding him, but he's too busy smiling at Doris from across the table, laughing and babbling nonsense every time she smiles back at him. His chubby cheeks and big, brown eyes warm up a side of Doris that she usually prefers to keep cold and guarded.

"I got a big brother," Doris answers, but as she's not too keen on discussing her family any further, she quickly asks a question of her own. "Who's the oldest of you?"

"Jenn and I are twins, but you probably figured that out already," Jessica says. Aside from her bleached hair, while Jennifer maintains her natural black color, they look strikingly similar. They, too, have the sharp, marvelous cheekbones that seem to run in the family. If they had the same hair, it would be pretty much impossible to tell them apart. "We're the oldest and Grace is the youngest."

"So, Johnny's the middle one," Doris says, looking thoughtful. "That actually explains a lot."

"Excuse me?" Johnny glares at her from the other end of the table.

"You know what? It really does," Jennifer says, nodding as she smiles at Johnny in a way only a healthily spiteful sister smiles at her younger sibling.

"How did you two meet?" Hae-mi asks to break up the inevitable fight about to happen between her children.

"Through Lin," Johnny says before Doris gets to even open her mouth for a respond. It's not exactly the truth, but Lin was there, so it's a vague enough answer.

"How is Lin? I'm hoping to see her here for dinner soon, too?"

"She's good, just busy at the, uh, new garage she got a job at."

Doris raises her eyebrows subtly at the food on her plate. It's not as much a 'job at a garage' as it is an undercover job in a rival crew's ranks, but considering how hard Johnny's trying to dodge the topic, he doesn't seem too comfortable bringing up the whole street gang business at a family dinner. She wonders if they even know what he does.

"I feel like I should bring out the real question here, since we're all thinking about it, anyway," Jessica says as she turns to Doris. "Why are you friends with him?"

Johnny frowns. "Really?"

"You've brought a friend home, like, twice," Jennifer notes. "And that was years ago."

"He doesn't have friends," Jessica says.

"Well, he certainly needs to work on his people skills," Doris contributes to the conversation she finds all in all hilarious.

"Oh yeah?" Johnny grumbles. "I guess you can walk home, then."

"See?"

Jennifer clicks her tongue. "It's good to know there's at least one person besides us and Lin who can stick up to his bullshit."

"Language," their mother says in a casual enough tone to have Doris believe she's very used to it.

"Sorry."

Unlike the other three siblings, Grace turns out to be a quiet one. She helps David with the grill, curiously listening to the others bantering, but refraining from speaking herself. Her black hair and red glasses frame the features of her face, which are softer than her siblings'. When Doris tells her how cute her bob-cut hair looks, she smiles shyly and compliments Doris' light pink hair in turn.

"You're all so gorgeous," Doris says. "Unlike Johnny."

His sisters laugh, and even his mother chuckles quietly to herself, while Johnny frowns deeper at the other end of the table. "Yo, I didn't bring you here to—"

"Shut up, Johnny," Jennifer interrupts him. They're all aware of how thoughtless he can be, how he often speaks before he thinks, and they've had their fair share of his inconsiderate comments. She flings a well-aimed, small spoonful of baby food straight into his chest when Hae-mi can't catch her in the act, flaring up his temper on purpose.

"You're gonna suffer for that la—"

"What was that, Ji-hoon?" Hae-mi asks as she turns to give her son a silencing look.

Johnny pouts to himself and concentrates on wiping the food stain off his shirt. "Nothin'."

"Okay, you're officially part of us now," Jessica says to Doris, raising her glass. "Welcome to the family."

"Thanks," Doris beams as she raises her own glass to clink it against Jessica's. The alcohol and the spicy dishes warm up her belly in a comforting way. She's having fun. All is good.

"Ain't that a bit early?" Johnny asks. "You met her less than an hour ago."

"Too late, you'll never get rid of me now," Doris says, flashing him a smug smile. "The food is way too good."

"You really think so?" Hae-mi asks, looking up with a smile from the bowls she's filling up with kimchi stew to pass them around.

"Honestly, this is the best meal I've had in years."

"I try to gather everyone up at least once a week. You're welcome to come to dinner whenever you like."

"I'd love to."

"Mom," Johnny complains, acting like his mother just betrayed his trust, though he's the one who brought Doris there to begin with.

"Zip it," Hae-mi snaps as she hands Johnny a bowl, "or you'll be doing the dishes by yourself."

Doris smiles to herself while receiving her bowl with both hands, knowing it's the polite way. It's refreshing for her to witness Johnny being overpowered by so many women at once, and despite of his weak attempts at fighting back, he still has to resign himself to his faith. As they're finishing up the stew, Grace gathers up the courage she needs to start asking Doris questions about the numerous tattoos all over her body. Suddenly Doris is surrounded by a whole family, half of them trying to engage her in conversation at the same time, and she's overwhelmed, glancing at Johnny every now and then, like she's looking for confirmation on why he brought her there. That it's not some type of asshole-ish plan of his, that he's not expecting anything specific in return, that maybe, just maybe he did it out of the goodness of his heart, if that's a saying that can be applied to him.

But trying to get his attention is useless for the rest of the evening, since he's only concentrating on his meal, speaking quietly to his grandmother at the other end of the table, as if not to disturb the on-going competition for Doris' attention between the rest of his family. He listens to her laughing, and he sees her slowly feeling more and more comfortable around his family that night, forgetting why she was sad to begin with for a few hours, which leaves him plenty of time to enjoy his dinner in some sort of peace for once.

 

* * *

 


End file.
